25 signatures reached
To: Support to Representatives Steve Cohen (TN) and co-sponsors and Representative Gerry Connolly (VA)
Support House Bills to Remove J. Edgar Hoover's Name from FBI Building
We support removal of J. Edgar Hoover's name from the FBI building and support both bills this legislative cycle.
Why is this important?
The removal of the name J. Edgar Hoover from the Federal Bureau of Investigations building in Washington DC. Each and every FBI official employed past and present swore an oath to “defend the Constitution of the United States from all enemies, foreign and domestic”. It has been made clear throughout the years through declassified released FBI records and the Freedom of Information Act that under the leadership of J. Edgar Hoover have displayed the exact opposite of defending the US Constitution and have proven that Director Hoover was a “Domestic Enemy of the Constitution”.
In this time of raising the concerns of social justice for Black people, the US government and election officials would look "performative" if THIS specific person is not shifted from his prominence in government based on the legacy of racism he instituted in the FBI policies and procedures.
A few examples:
-Hoover's first "Black Messiah" was Marcus Garvey. During that time, Marcus Garvey built an organization of Black people across the African diaspora in many countries to band together by educating each other in building wealth and political engagement. Garvey's UNIA organization also put together a still-relevant Black Agenda called the Declaration of the Negro Peoples of the World during the 1920 convention held at Madison Garden in from of 25,000 Black people. Hoover took down Garvey's operation by placing infiltrators including those specifically to discredit his movement.
-Possible involvement of the unlawful assassination of Malcom X in 1965
-The threats on the life of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. through tapes sent to his wife and other tactics to suppress MLK's actions during the civil rights movement
-Definite involvement of the assassination of Fred Hampton in 1969
-Refusal of active investigations in the murders of Cheney, Schwerner, and Goodman into hate crimes in Mississippi 1963
-Violating 1st amendment rights of people of color from WWI through the civil rights movements by unlawful surveillance tactics by the FBI
-Harassment of Black celebrities such as Billie Holiday, Paul Roberson, and Langston Hughes
-Doctored letters among Black organizations to start conflict including the result of a shoot out between the US Organization led by the founder of Kwanzaa Dr. Karenga and the California BPP which occurred strictly due to planted letters by the FBI found in 2007
-Intimidation of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party and the efforts of Fannie Lou Hamer and Ella Baker to allow for segregation in voting to be discontinued.
There are other examples.
By removing J. Edgar Hoover’s name from the FBI HQ building, our nation can acknowledge the wrongs it has perpetuated due to his leadership. . Healing begins when we stop heralding racists who victimized and disenfranchised innocent freedom fighters resulting in disgrace and even death of Black leaders. This begins with the removal of J. Edgar Hoover's name to the building in an effort to dismantle an unfair legacy rooted in racism at the Bureau.
In this time of raising the concerns of social justice for Black people, the US government and election officials would look "performative" if THIS specific person is not shifted from his prominence in government based on the legacy of racism he instituted in the FBI policies and procedures.
A few examples:
-Hoover's first "Black Messiah" was Marcus Garvey. During that time, Marcus Garvey built an organization of Black people across the African diaspora in many countries to band together by educating each other in building wealth and political engagement. Garvey's UNIA organization also put together a still-relevant Black Agenda called the Declaration of the Negro Peoples of the World during the 1920 convention held at Madison Garden in from of 25,000 Black people. Hoover took down Garvey's operation by placing infiltrators including those specifically to discredit his movement.
-Possible involvement of the unlawful assassination of Malcom X in 1965
-The threats on the life of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. through tapes sent to his wife and other tactics to suppress MLK's actions during the civil rights movement
-Definite involvement of the assassination of Fred Hampton in 1969
-Refusal of active investigations in the murders of Cheney, Schwerner, and Goodman into hate crimes in Mississippi 1963
-Violating 1st amendment rights of people of color from WWI through the civil rights movements by unlawful surveillance tactics by the FBI
-Harassment of Black celebrities such as Billie Holiday, Paul Roberson, and Langston Hughes
-Doctored letters among Black organizations to start conflict including the result of a shoot out between the US Organization led by the founder of Kwanzaa Dr. Karenga and the California BPP which occurred strictly due to planted letters by the FBI found in 2007
-Intimidation of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party and the efforts of Fannie Lou Hamer and Ella Baker to allow for segregation in voting to be discontinued.
There are other examples.
By removing J. Edgar Hoover’s name from the FBI HQ building, our nation can acknowledge the wrongs it has perpetuated due to his leadership. . Healing begins when we stop heralding racists who victimized and disenfranchised innocent freedom fighters resulting in disgrace and even death of Black leaders. This begins with the removal of J. Edgar Hoover's name to the building in an effort to dismantle an unfair legacy rooted in racism at the Bureau.